Police capture man who escaped from Belfast reentry center

Belfast — The man who escaped from the Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center in Belfast was arrested by police in South Boston late in the afternoon of Friday, July 25.

Members of the South Boston Police Fugitive Unit arrested 23-year-old Tyler Malmstrom at about 4:30 p.m., according to a press release from the Sanford Police Department. Police said Malmstrom had family in Sanford, Maine, and believed he would return there to seek help.

Malmstrom was serving the remaining five months of a sentence at the reentry center for his involvement in a bar fight incident that occurred in Knox County when he left the facility the evening of July 10.

He left a note behind apologizing to to the staff of the sheriff's offices in Knox and Waldo County, as well as to court staff and his family for his actions, according to previously published reports.

Detectives from the Sanford Police Department and Waldo County Sheriff’s Office worked together to coordinate an investigation and search for Malmstrom, according to the news release.

Sanford detectives learned on Friday that Malmstrom was likely staying in the Boston area and they contacted the Boston Police Fugitive Unit to coordinate the search. Four hours after contacting police in Boston, Malmstrom was seen leaving an apartment building in the area of Hyde Park, the release states.

Malmstrom was arrested moments later without incident.

“This was the best ending we could have hoped for with a case like this. Nobody got hurt and Tyler Malmstrom is back in custody,” Detective Sgt. Matthew Jones of the Sanford Police Department said in the news release.